The invention relates to a cabinet hinge which has a jamb-related part in the form of a channel-like arm which is coupled by a linkage to the door-related part and mounted releasably and for adjustment in at least two coordinate directions on a mounting plate which can be fastened to the jamb. The channel-shaped arm of the hinge at least partially straddles the mounting plate, while its web has a slot that is open-ended or provided with an enlarged opening at its end remote from the hinge joint, through which passes the shaft of a mounting screw threaded into the mounting plate, and it has a tap in the web, through which a screw is threaded which thrusts against the mounting plate. In at least one of the flanges of the channel there is provided a recess or cutout providing an abutment at substantially right angles to the surface of the jamb and facing the hinge-joint end of the arm, and in the area of the mounting plate confronting this recess a resilient catch element protruding from one side of the mounting plate is disposed in such a position that the abutments on the arm and catch element come into catching engagement with one another when the arm is displaced longitudinally on the mounting plate and the shaft of the mounting screw in the mounting plate arrives at the open or enlarged end of the slot in the rearward transitional portion of the latter. With cabinet hinges of this kind (DE-OS No. 32 23 936, DE-OS No. 33 01 279), the disadvantage of older hinges was overcome, which consisted in the danger of the separation of the arm from the mounting plate and thus of dropping a door attached with such hinges to a cabinet when the screws attaching the arm to the mounting plate are loosened for the purpose, for example, of the precise adjustment of the depth or overlay dimension of the door relative to the carcase. By the engagement of the abutments of the catch element and arm when the arm is pushed onto the mounting plate the assurance is provided that unintentional separation will be prevented without making it any more difficult to adjust the arm on the mounting plate or the door on the cabinet jamb than in the case of the hinges of the prior art. The known hinges have proven successful and are widely used. In these hinges, in order to release the safety catch when it is desired to remove a door from the cabinet--when moving furniture, for example--it is necessary only to unscrew the mounting screw holding the arm on the mounting plate, doing so by such an additional amount that the arm can be lifted at right angles to the jamb to such an extent that the abutments on the arm come out of engagement with the abutments on the catch element. In the raised position, the hinge arm can then be removed from the mounting plate. The intentional further backing off of the mounting screws in disassembly does not constitute a great deal of work, but it has the disadvantage that the safety locking of the arm on the mounting plate is not assured when the door is reinstalled on the jamb, if it has been forgotten to first drive the mounting screw back into the mounting plate to the necessary degree.
Accordingly the invention is addressed to the problem of improving the known hinges such that the safety locking of the arm on the mounting plate can be put out of action more quickly and easily for the purpose of disassembly in case of need, and can be restored automatically upon reassembly, while remaining basically just as effective and reliable, without requiring special measures or manipulation.